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Board approves Prop. 28 plan and confirms $3.1 million in music-and-arts block-grant spending
Summary
The Los Banos Unified board approved a Prop. 28 implementation plan and reviewed district spending of a $3.1 million music-and-arts block grant to buy instruments, replace pianos and expand arts access, including plastic instruments for elementary students and proposed new staffing funded by Prop. 28.
The Los Banos Unified School District board on Tuesday approved the district’s Prop. 28 implementation plan and heard a review of how the district used a one-time $3.1 million music-and-arts block grant to expand arts and music programs.
Eric, presenting the block-grant results, said the district “officially have spent $3.1 million” on instruments, trailers and equipment to modernize marching-band and music programs. The expenditures included districtwide piano replacements (the presentation cited roughly $500,000 for pianos), new marching equipment and trailers for each secondary school so ensembles no longer travel in rented trucks, and purchases for winter percussion and winter guard programs.
Why it matters: Prop. 28 provides ongoing funding for arts education. The board heard an estimate of about $1.8 million in annual Prop. 28 funding for the district, with the program rule that 80 percent must fund new staff working directly with students and 20 percent may be used for materials and supplies (no more than 1 percent may be used for indirect/administrative costs). The district’s proposal lists elementary band teachers, traveling art teachers, assistants for secondary programs and other classified positions such as stage managers and costume technicians among the staffing priorities.
Eric described one equity-focused purchase: low-cost plastic (PVC) instruments, roughly $120 each, loaned by the district to elementary students so children whose families cannot afford commercial rentals can participate. He said that after buying 150 plastic instruments the district had to increase program capacity at several schools because participation grew rapidly.
Board action: Trustees voted to approve the Prop. 28 plan and related items (motion recorded and carried). Board members also discussed hiring challenges for some proposed new positions and noted that job descriptions and HR approvals must follow before staff can be hired.
Quotations: “We officially have spent $3.1 million,” Eric said during the presentation. Dr. Marshall and other trustees praised the outreach and program expansion the grant enabled.
What’s next: The district will finalize job descriptions and pursue hiring for Prop. 28-funded positions where feasible; the supply purchases and equipment already bought are in district inventory. The board’s approval enables the district to proceed with staffing plans and supply allocations that must meet the Prop. 28 requirement to fund new services rather than supplant existing positions.
